Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Fountain of Living Water

I haven't swum for years, but that doesn't change the fact that I am part fish. I love the water. I don't like to just splash around and play in the water. I love to swim laps or better still to swim in a lake where you can just go and go and go without hitting a wall. There's a freedom in swimming that I imagine is something like flying. The water holding you in a gentle caress, stroking your shoulders as you rhythmically paddle on, and whishing a foreign ballad in your ears as you go is enchanting. For some reason when I'm in the water I feel one with the earth; one with God's universe.

But water is so much more than recreation. My body is 60% water! I love drinking water. I delight in a warm shower or soaking in a hot tub. Cleaning a kitchen would be torture without water and I can't even imagine how you'd ever get your clothes or dishes clean without it. I look forward to walking in spring showers and feeling the rain tickle my face. On any given day, take note how often water plays a part in your life. It's amazing. We can't live without water.

Maybe this love of water is the reason I delight when Isaiah says, "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3). Water is the life force both physically and spiritually. We are baptized in water. We drink the Sacramental water. We receive salvation from the Fountain of Living Water—Jesus Christ. When I used to hear that phrase, I'd think of a beautiful sculpted fountain spouting water into the air from its center and water spilling over its sides in cascades. But I have since learned that in Biblical days the word fountain referred to a source of something. So the Fountain of Living Water is the Source of Living Water. Jesus Christ is where it all comes from.

As I wash the garden soil off my work weary hands, I feel the water softly caressing my skin and it reminds me of the wells of salvation changing my soiled and tired soul into something pure and refreshed. Water is the source of all that is good.